Northern Lehigh bounced back from its lone loss at Palisades two weeks ago with a mercy-rule win over Salisbury last Friday.

Pen Argyl is coming off a loss at Southern Lehigh, one in which the Green Knights racked up 390 yards of offense but allowed 28 points.

So, it is safe to say there will be plenty of contact when the two hit the Bulldog Community Stadium turf. A lot of anger release to make up for some unacceptable play play to date.

It also will feature several of the area's top players. Northern Lehigh's Caleb Johnson is dominant at whatever position he is put in.

Johnson is the team's leading tackler from inside linebacker spot defensively. On offense, whether at tight end, split end or running back, he must be accounted for.

"Caleb is a factor wherever he is because of his athleticism," Reduzzi said.

While the 6-foot-5 Johnson is a tall order for any defensive back to guard, the 5-7 Mikey Racciato is equally dangerous out of the Pen Argyl backfield. He is second in the league in rushing (646 yards) and tied for second in scoring.

While both teams try to run different sets and different packages, they simply are disguising their ultimate goal — to line up and smack you as hard as they can.

"It's the same year to year," Tout said. "Both teams have a blue-collar mentality. [This game] is what we get excited for. We mirror each other most of the teams in our league."

While the perennial contenders remain in the top four in most categories, they are coming up short at times in certain areas.

Both are hovering around the even mark in turnover ratio. Last season, Pen Argyl averaged a turnover every three to four games. Northern Lehigh also was comfortably on the positive side of the telling statistic.

"It's been a real strange five games," Tout said. "We had good first half against Southern Lehigh [in the opener], then were flat against Notre Dame. Against Saucon Valley, we were good emotionally but had five turnovers. The next week against Palisades, we had turnovers and were real flat."

Pen Argyl already has twice as many turnovers in five games this season as it had in 14 games in 2011.

Some of it is expected because of the graduation of talent from both teams. There is the inexperience of a situation of knowing when to take what the opposing defense is giving and when to go for more.

Some of it is a lack of repetition in practice because of a lack of depth and injuries.

Neither team was hit by injuries much the last two seasons, but there has been payback in 2012.

Northern Lehigh is getting healthy with the return of two-way starter Darien Middaugh and the potential return of Shawn Shupp.

Pen Argyl is hoping to get back a pair of starting linemen it lost in last week's loss — Alan Lancaster and David Reyes. Both have not practiced yet this week.

"A big key for us is to physically stay on the field," Reduzzi said. "We have two [backups] probably out for the year with injuries and two others we had to dismiss, plus [Lancaster and Reyes].

"We dressed 34 last week, left with 32 and practiced [Tuesday] with 31. We had one injury over the course of the last two years where one game was missed."

While some things clearly have changed, the way Northern Lehigh and Pen Argyl play the game has not.

Those healthy enough to participatea in Friday's game will remember it for how hard it was contested. It is what has made this rivalry a joy to watch.